LNG-Fuelled Ferry Launches

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday August 1, 2014

The first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ferry to operate in North America was launched at the Fincantieri shipyard in Naples, Italy earlier this summer and will arrive in Quebec, Canada in late 2014, according to Lloyd's Register, which classed the vessel.

Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ), a Quebec Government corporation, ordered and will operate the ferry, F.-A.-Gauthier.

The ship, the first gas-powered ferry built in Italy, uses energy saving and emissions-reducing technology, keeping carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) down and reducing sulfur oxides (SOx) to zero.

The F.-A.-Gauthier uses four diesel power generators capable of operating on LNG or marine diesel oil (MDO).

"The ferry's propulsion system is equipped with counter rotating propellers and transverse propellers which make it exceptionally maneuverable," said Gianpaolo Dalla Vedova, Lloyd's Register's marine operations manager for Italy and South East Europe.

"Together with a complex and extensive system of ramps and doors at both bow and stern, the vessel can be loaded and unloaded very quickly."

The ferry is 133 meters long, 22 meters wide, with a service speed of 20 knots and a capacity of more than 800 passengers, and it has an ice class notation.

STQ is also having two LNG-fuelled ferries built in Canada.